tanya

I arrived in Malawi today and it has been a long, exciting, interesting day. I have already been in Kenya for a month and have learned profoundly of a lot of things.

Anyway, back to my arrival in Lilongwe. A quick peek from the airport revealed just wide open spaces with desert trees and short shrubs. In my ignorance I thought, could this possibly be the capital city of a country? I had just come from bustling Nairobi that affirmed itself as the nerve of Kenya with its scores of well dressed rushing people and tall buildings and billboards. My first few glimpses of Lilongwe revealed few billboards and lesser humanity. The only billboard put up says Stop Corruption, Pay Taxes. Another says Help Malawi develop. I was later told that the entire city of Lliongwe is rather spread out. All this unused land! I thought to myself and then thought that this is exactly what the colonizers and development agencies had said of places like India and Africa and the consequences that had ensued when they put that thought into action. I am trying
(and this has proved very hard) to withhold judgement without thoroughly reading up on a particular issue or situation
And so here I was in Malawi; a nation Americans rarely read or thought about before pop star Madonnas involvement in the region. A nation that did not even merit a thought when we paused to think of that faraway exotic Africa. Kenyas lush natural beauty, animals, greenery and their colorful people seemed in sharp contrast to these dusty plains. A forgotten nation! I wondered how it must feel to grow up here.
While Shohini and Kim picked me up from the airport (much to my delight) we were later met by Lois Silo from the Raising Malawi foundation. A gracious,efficient Malawian lady, Lois quickly made us feel at home. We then had a meeting with her where she asked us What do you want to do here? Unfotunately, the answer to that was regrettably difficult. A week before we had arrived in Malawi we discovered that we would not be receiving the checklist; a crucial tool to our research because the Kenya model was too different from the Malawian one. So we were on our own albeit with an outline of what we would be doing (ideally) provided to us with the help of Abby White from the Daisy Eye Cancer Fund. So what we are doing now is a volunteer based effort to understand as comprehensively as possible the challenges the Malawian healthcare system faces, the policies that govern children’s healthcare and the way public and private partnerships work together (or around each other in some cases) to provide this healthcare. We will also be looking at Raising Malawis comprehensive efforts to involve the community in the health and welfare of children with their motto “It takes a Village to Raise a Child” based on an old African adage.
We live in the World Camp a camp that is basically a big old colonial house for American college students volunteering for HIV/AIDS awareness in rural villages in Malawi. A short walk around the old town area of Lilongwe will reveal large colonial houses with well-manicured lawns and large electric fences testifying to an inequality in wealth.


28th May 2009
We were up and ready for a field trip with Lois to visit all the areas that she had thought about for us to volunteer and observe. Before I describe the four places we visit, I must describe the sheer disarming rural nature of the places we passed. Most people commute on their own two legs..walking long distances to reach the nearest store or hospital and school. There was an overwhelming number o children and I have yet to find out if this is indicative of their population. Children half naked, dressed in school uniforms, children lounging under a shady tree with a long piece of sugarcane (that must have been a RIDICULOUS sugar high!) and children running down the road behind the car. It all seems very rural and breathtakingly rustic and I am aware that this is because we are sitting in a 4 by 4 car with American pop music and Malawian gospel hyms alternating the silence and heat outside. Lois explained to us that many of these kids simply stop going to school after some time because it is simply too far to walk..especially teenaged girls. We asked about healthcare and found that private hospitals simply had more access to essential medicine and often going to a government hospital meant you would not get the adequate treatment or not get access to medicines. To describe how spread out Lilongwe is almost impossible to commit to paper. I do not know if I can even describe the small settlements of 4-5 huts as villages.
Our first visit was to Consul Home, with its spanking new wooden structures and green roofs presented by Madonna o the community just last year. Even in its relevant modesty, the small rooms and center stood out from other mud huts and was a welcome change from the brown of the mud. This center was truly inspirational because it had incorporated the entire family as a unit into the center. There were classrooms for pre-school kids who greeted us joyfully with dancing eyes and waving hands. In one corner was a room where the grandmothers sat and made pots and also “do what grandmothers do” according to Lois. In addition, the grandmothers also came to the pre-schools nd taught their grandchildren stories from the communities past and folklore keeping alive the oral tradition of Malawian culture and also inculcating respect for elders wisom and knowledge. Lois pointed out that it was projects like this that really spoke to “It takes a village to raise a child” motto in order to rejuvenate Malawian culture when it comes to bringing up children. In addition, the center also had a water pump, a vocational trainig center and a provisio to make earthen pots and weave baskets. The center was inspiring ans all of us were humbled and impressed at the same time with the impressive elcome people had to give us.
Ou next stop (after a long drive) was the Home pf Hope Orphanage enclosed in al arge wall where over 600 orphans and teachers and administrators resided in one large stretched out shady compound. We met briefly with Agogo (great grandfather) the Presbyterian minister that had started the Home of Hope and it was agreed that we would be given a guided tour later. Our one week at Home of Hope would have to be in skirts since wearing jeans is offensive t osome people.
Our last and final stop after a crumby cheese sandwhich lunch in the car was the Crisis Nursery. We all instantly fell in love with these orphan babies many of them not above four moths age who had been abandoned. The are the most beautiful creations I have ever seen. We stood there for a little while spellbound and silenced by both their beauty and their fate.More reflections later in the next post.

Um,sorry this is kind of an abrupt ending..